The Long Search
by Kenie-cha
Summary: Captain Kelburn was in charge of the crew members Shirogane, Matthew and Samuel Holt. After hearing about her missing crew she decides to search for them them like a Captain should. But she has a bad feeling about this mission also.
1. Chapter 1

"How many times do I have to say it?" she looks over to Shiro and Mat with a stern face. "I refuse to go on this mission. The Garrison is up to something. They found a new organism and they put four of their best employees on the mission. That's too suspicious." Mat looks at her and laughs knowing she was over thinking this. His laughter made her feel more anxious.

"Garrison crew went missing during mission. Shirogane Takashi, Matthew and Samuel Holt. All went missing couple hours ago after video feeds cut off." Pain. Fear. All the feelings she felt watching the news in the Garrison news room. Her heart throbbed as Mat's face flashed on the screen. "Deanna! Boss wants to see you." a man in black approached her as she fought the tears.  
"As you know our team went missing. And you were assigned that mission but-"  
"Don't you dare blame this on me! I said no because I had a hunch something bad would happen!" Deanna slammed her hands on the desk raging. Her red hair fell over her dark emerald eyes, "Unlike you I care for my crew. I watch them more than my own back. I put myself in danger like a captain should."He smirked, "Miss Deanna we want you to search for them."

She sat as if time froze, "Or we will turn you in." she looked at her shoes and couldn't help but want this. She could search for everyone. Sam. Shiro. Mat. "Fine but I go alone."  
"Obviously. Why would I risk more of my men?" he rolled his eyes handing her files. "We will say you left. You can take the 6PFG." The 6PFG? The ship with a living quarter and kitchen. She felt like he knew this was going to be a long trip, "Fine. I leave tomorrow."  
"Fine by me."

The next morning flew by in a flash. She sat in her operating chair of the 6PFG. Her heart ached to fine Mat and the others. Why did they ignore her warning. She felt as if this was her fault. "Auto pilot On." She walked around the ship for a bit. She felt alone. More than she ever had. "Haley."  
"Yes?"  
"Show me reports on Matthew, Shirogane, and Samuel." A loading icon came on the screen, "Unable." What? She ran threw the ship looking for her files on the crew. "HALEY! Find the files of the crew that went missi-"  
"Airlock opened."  
"NO!" Deanna fell to her knees as the air escaped from the ship. "H-haley. Shut off the a-air lo-ock!"  
"Unable." She looked over seeing the suit room. She struggled to open the door and get threw, "Access denied." Haley repeated as she scanned her code. "Override! Captain Deanna Kelburn! Open this door 12578!"  
"Access granted. Enter key pad number." Deanna punched in her numbers, "Welcome Captain Deanna."  
"Haley open pod number 16." The pod lite up as she dressed in her uniform. She turned on her air and gasped for the air. Her heart rate lowered as well as her other vittles. She threw in the other air tanks for emergency. She pack boxes of food and water as well with clothes.

She ran over to the control room, "Self destruction requires pass code." Deanna paused seeing her ship head to the planet Shiro and them vanished on. They were going to give her to the men that took Shiro. Her heart raced but she had no time seeing a large ship head to the planet also, "Pass code: 253-870-5846! Self destruct in one minute."  
"Access granted. Counting down 1:00" She ran to her pod making sure to grab everything. "0:30"

She sat in her controls, "Welcome to Pod 16. My name is Adam." She turned off auto pilot, "Not dealing with this again." Deanna turned on her steering seeing pods head their way to her way. "0:20" She turned on her pod sending her flying threw the dark area, "Deanna!" Her heart stopped passing by the large ship. She heard Mat but she knew this must be due to lack of air earlier. She shook her head and continued her way and turned on her cloak.

"0:00." The ship denigrated as she went flew fasted to escape the blast. "Damn it." she grunted trying to stay on course. "Cloak damaged." she ignored the comment and sped off into the night sky.

* * *

"Adam, how much longer?"  
"You have four hours until we reach planet Havak." Adam announced as Deanna got dressed. A male figured popped up. Adam. She turned him into an AI with all the spare parts she found floating in space or on planets. "Captain we are having trouble contacting the leader. Shall I try again or perhaps someone else?"  
"No, we are to contact the leader of Havak. Continue to contact him until h-" Her pod turned red as video feeds of a large ship came near, "Adam, identify that ship." Adam looked over at the ship and scanned its external and internal parts, "An unknown ship. With no one on board?" He placed his hands on his back as Deanna looked at the ship, "The ship is closing in at an excelling rate. What is the speed?"  
"To high to count on my scale." Deanna rushed over to the controls, "They're crashing into the planet! Adam, push me thew to the Leader." A woman in robe answered the video call, "We wish not to speak to y-"  
"Get off Havak now! An unknown ship is heading your way and has no one on board to stop it. If this continues your planet is doomed." She looked at her with no worry, "Why should I believe you?" Deanna gripped her steering wheel, "Don't but that's your problem. Believe and live or die." The feed shut off. Adam popped up on her screen, "We're getting on the ship?"  
"Seven month together and you know me so well ,Adam." He rolled his eyes and pix elated off. She sped over to ship and landed on a landing strip, "Hack into the security and sent me a map t-" she looked at her forearm seeing a blue print of the ship and directions to the control room. "Thank you Adam."

Even though their was no one on the ship she kept her stealth on, "Deanna there is a living being headed your way with two trailing behind it." She ran the rest of the way to the control room, "Adam, I'm in. I'm placing the chip in," Adam popped up on the screen. "This ship is covered in Quintessences. We must be careful." Deanna rolled her eyes, "How do I stop this rust bucket?" Adam looked at the opening door, "We have guests, Captain." Deanna hid behind the desk as Adam vanished, "Allura we're here. How do we stop this ship?" Her micro helmet pix elated on with the touch of her forearm, "Don't be nevi. Just like every other Galra ship you must override the controls. You must hurry Shiro."

Her heart stopped, "Pidge!" What?! "Already on it but with Hunk clinging to me. It makes it difficult." Hunk too?! Her heart rate accelerated, "Captain?" As Deanna put on her cloak; Adam popped up on the large Galra screen, "OH MY QUIZNAK! He's going to kill us." Hunk screamed as Shiro looked at him with a stern face. "An AI? On a Galra ship."  
"Please, I am under Captain's order to shut down this ship and reboot the controls to save Havak. You?" Pidge sparkled at the handsome AI, "Your such a smart and beautiful creation." Shiro stepped forward, "Who is your Captain?" Adam looked at him with intention to talk, "She is my creator and I refuse to reveal her identity."

Deanna felt her blood run threw her body faster than it should have. The ship cut off but plummeted to the ground, "Captain , I must have your permission to turn back on." She froze not wanting to move but if she didn't, "SHIRO!" Pidge screamed floating threw the air.

"ADAM! Code 295! Turn the ship back on and take us to surface with no damage!" She ordered turning her cloak off. The ship turned back on with gravity having everyone fall on the ground. Her red hair hit her face, "Is everyone ok?" Shiro asked checking on Pidge, "Yep! Can we leave now?" Hunk asked walking to the door slowly, "No! Who are you?" He pointed his robotic arm out toward Deanna, "Like he said," she turned around, "I am Captain. I'm Deanna Kelburn." she smiled as Shiro showed no emotion. Pidge smiled seeing Deanna, "How did you get here?" Deanna hugged her tightly, "The Garrison gave me a ship but-"  
"But the Garrison tried to kill her. She pledge to look for the missing crew for more than two years. Including Shirogane, Matthew, and Samuel." Deanna looked over at Adam with annoyed face. He vanished off screen.

"That doesn't mean anything. Pidge step away from Deanna and head back to your lion." He pointed to the door as Pidge looked at him. Hunk joined in with the confusion, "Shiro, this is Deanna. The girl that save your life numerous time and spent more than two years looking for you." Shiro shook his head, "That's an order! Get back to your lions!"  
"NO!" Pidge stood in front of Deanna. "Pidge, stand down. I'll be fine." she smiled patting her shoulder. Her and Hunk made way to the door. They stood in silence of a bit, "How have been you been?" He glared at her, "Move it." she lowered her head throwing her hands up.

The walk to the landing deck seemed like hours, "Get on." His voice was cold and his appearance had completely change. Along with his personality.

"Shiro, this is Deanna Kelburn." Lance pointed out as she sat in her cell. "Stay out of this Lance. She was on a Galra ship."  
"Trying to stop it like us though." Allura stepped forward. "She is not our enemy. She save three of our Paladins. We should grateful." She smiled but Shiro refused. Her heart felt torn apart hearing his say ugly things about her, "She's no Captain!"  
"Seriously!" She jumped at the sound of Mat's voice, "She warned us about that mission! But we ignored her and went ahead! She's a better Captain than you!" No. Shiro was right. If she was a true Captain she'd gone with them to help and protect her crew but she hide way and stayed at home. She'd place this burden on herself for so long. Nothing would have think differently.

"He's right. A Captain would have gone and protected his or her crew at any cost. I hide away when I should have gone." Everyone looked over at her, "I'm so sorry. You were in such a horrible place and I did nothing to help or stop you." tears streamed down her face.

She felt a hand on her head, "No, you were trying so hard but we ignored your cries. You were best of our class and the best Captain I served under." Mat hugged her tightly as she cried. She found her crew after so many years alone. "Mat! I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're ok." She wanted to hug Shiro but he left and headed to his room. Tears weld up in his eyes, "Damn it."

His heart broke knowing she liked Mat and not him.


	2. Chapter 2

Shiro sat in his quarters gathering his thoughts, "She doesn't even acknowledge your existence." A dark voice repeated having him sweat dramatically. "Shiro?" Deanna stood at his door. Her voice shaking. Allura gave her some clothes to sleep in for the night, "I understand if you wish not to see me but hear me out at least." She lowered her head as she held her armor, "I was so scared when they announced you guys missing and for about two years I blamed no one but myself. I don't blame you if you accuse me of this either but I'm really sorry. I was in charge but I left you when I got scared."

He stood at his door placing his forehead on the metal, "Shiro?" he sighed heavily. She wasn't to blame. Like Mat said she tried warning them but they ignored her. This was as much as their fault as hers, "Deanna, I-" the door opened with no one there. Shiro felt his heart break hearing her foot steps.

"Maybe we should do combat training to see who is of higher ranking." Coran announced in the control room. Pidge sighed, "I know me or Hunk has to be the weakest so I'm out."  
"Yeah me too and hurtful." Hunk crossed his arms as Pidge shrugged playing with her tech. Lance stood proud, "As #1 sharpshooter I agree to this arrangement." he sparkled as Deanna walked in. "Ah. Miss Kelburn, would you like to join?" She looked at Coran , "No thanks. Sounds fun but I'm a but tired. Goodnight." Coran looked at her with worry seeing the purple veins coming from under her eyes, "Yes please rest." She waved as Coran began to search, "What's wrong?"  
"When you found Deanna was she wearing a helmet?" Pidge began to think, "No, she didn't. She was there before us." Hunk commented. "How much longer?"  
"Maybe five or more minutes."

Adam popped up by Deanna, "Your exposure to the Quintessence has increased, Captain. You must get to a healing pod or you will end up like the others." Deanna staggered to her room covered in sweat. She leaned against the wall the rest of the way to her room. "How long?" Adam scanned her vitals, "I predict two or less days. If you are not given the proper treatment." Her breathing became heavy. She felt her hair press on her back, "I need a cut." she laughed tying it up.

Coran stood in front of the Paladins and Mat, "The ship was covered in Quintessence. Allura and I made sure you wore helmets so you'd have no exposure but Deanna was exposed. She had purple veins under her eyes." Shiro sighed, "I tried telling the others but they ignored my demands." Pidge frowned, "I thought you hated her or something. Sorry."  
"Never mind that we need to get her to a healing pod. Her body contains a large amount of Quintessences. If we remove them now we can save her." Allura stepped forward. Lance and the others felt horrible giving him so much crap.

Shiro stood in front of Deanna's door before he heard a large thud. "Deanna?!" He opened her door seeing her on the floor breathing as if she was suffocating. "She is dying. I warned her but she worried about the people of Havak more than herself." Adam showed a scale of her body and measurement of Quintessences, "She's been this way for a couple of months."  
"Months?!" Shiro looked at Adam with worry holding her in his arms. Adam showed an image of a planet full of greenery and people, "Deanna visited a planet known as Relma. We camped with them until the pod was restored. We were approached by a woman in black with purple skin. She touched the water supply contaminating it with Quintessence. She wanted to study how it worked with different life forms. " A video of Deanna crying trying to save the people, "ADAM! Do something!"  
"You must go and take those who have not been exposed. Save my people Kelburn."A woman with gentle fingers caressed her cheek. Tears overflowed as her hand hit the ground, "Captain, we must go and save those who can be saved."

The video cut off as Deanna turned looking at Adam, "She saved them but she endangered herself. I yet do not understand this human nature." Shiro picked her up and carried her to the healing pod, "Pidge, I'm on my way. Get the pod ready."  
"On it." she turned the pod on as Shiro walked in. Mat stood by watching her, "You're going to be fine Deanna." He smiled as the pod went under ground, "She's slowly stabilizing." Adam showed her vitals and smiled a bit. Shiro smiled seeing her veins slowly disappear, "She'll make it. Now everyone go do something useful."  
"Then I'll stay here for when Deanna wakes up. I'll catch her like a Prince." Lance smirked with a pose. Shiro chuckled, "Not this time. Since none of you followed orders you are to the clean the ship as I watch over Deanna." Everyone sighed heavily walking away.

* * *

Shiro stood by the pod with Adam, "She's been in there for five days. Don't you think she should be better by now?" Adam shrugged, "With such a large amount of Quintessence; I'm not surprised. There was a child that took over a month to heal. " Shiro lowered his head thinking.

"Was she really worried about us?" he asked Adam who continued his visual on her vitals. "Yes. She was devastated when she heard of your disappearance. Although I was not to know of this," he looked at Shiro with sorrow eyes, "She often cried herself to sleep hold a photo of her crew." Adam looked at Shiro with no express then vanished.  
"Shiro?" he looked over to see Lance and the others. He walked over, "She's recovering just fine. Don't worry. Adam said she should wake up today or tomorrow." he smiled as they continued to look concern. Pidge butt in, "She's really been through a lot.


End file.
